Everyone now knows the federal government is about to run up against its limit for borrowing money, but everyone also knows that governments can -- and do -- just print the stuff. Washington owns the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Could the way to sidestep this looming crisis be just making more money?

With more and more financial transactions being conducted electronically, it's easy to forget the physicality of money. What a dollar weighs, or a pile of them. So just for fun, let's start piling up the Benjamins and see what a pound -- or 10, or 100, or a ton -- of C-notes will buy.